Chapter 634: The Forerunners' Objective?

Li Yu actually didn't expect that these few Crazy Bastards were actually so loyal, deliberately stalling for time to wait for the activation of the self-destruct System.

Then committing suicide, eliminating any transmission of confidential information.

What a pity...

Li Yu shook his head. When he discovered the activation of the self-destruct device, he had already raised the [Infinity Gauntlet], and the Time Stone blossomed with dazzling green light.

Then it began to envelop the entire main Base. From the outside, it looked like a Protective Shield was placed over this pillar-shaped Base.

Only, along with the coverage of the green light, the bottom-level Base that had completely exploded suddenly began to retract in a bizarre way.

The explosion's firelight was like a Recording played in reverse, condensing back into metal walls.

The Researchers huddled in the corner widened their eyes, watching this scene before them.

They saw the three managers lying on the Ground, twitching constantly, return to their chairs in a way they couldn't comprehend.

"This is..." The few senior Researchers were utterly stunned, finding it hard to comprehend.

These Researchers weren't affected by the time reversal. After all, affecting one more person meant an extra point of burden for Li Yu.

Fortunately, these few managers weren't considered powerful lifeforms. Their innate Time Intensity wasn't high, so modifying them wasn't too troublesome for Li Yu.

The more powerful the lifeform, the higher their innate Time Intensity. It would be more troublesome to reverse or stagnate them.

Just like Ales; he could even forcibly break the time force field enveloping him.

"1... 2... 3, countdown..."

The prompt sound of the self-destruct System's activation was also being read in reverse.

Time was directly dialed back by Li Yu to the moment before these people activated the self-destruct device.

When the time reversal force field disappeared, the few managers were horrified and said: "You... how could you suddenly appear here!?"

Their time had already been dialed back to right after they learned of Ales's death.

Therefore, they knew nothing about everything that happened afterwards.

"Don't move. I know you want to initiate the self-destruct sequence and commit suicide..." Li Yu confined the few of them. There were some fine beads of sweat on his forehead that quickly disappeared. He shook his head and said:

"Dialing back this segment of time was quite strenuous."

"It's... the Power of Time. He dialed back time!?" After a series of scene feedback, the few senior Researchers finally confirmed what was going on, and couldn't help but lose their voices.

"Dialed back time?" The few managers were somewhat bewildered, still not quite understanding.

They only knew that they had just learned the news of Ales's death, and the next second Li Yu appeared in front of them.

"The information on you hasn't been Squeezed Dry yet, so you can't die yet." Li Yu smiled, casually tossing out a few Energy Chains to confine the few of them.

"Give up. It's impossible for us to speak. We've undergone the most stringent anti-interrogation training, and there are anti-control Runes in our Spiritual Bodies. Don't delusionally think you can get any information."

A manager shouted.

Li Yu frowned slightly. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a voice from behind him: "L-Lord, I know."

Turning his head to look, it was still that Timid and Cowering guy, who seemed to be named——

"Nick?" Li Yu sized him up, his attitude genial: "What do you know?"

"I... I know everything you want to know. I know the Forerunners' objective here, and I also know what's hidden deep within this planet."

Nick's eyes shifted, but based on Li Yu's judgment of his emotions, this wasn't an expression of lying, but rather his inherent fear of interacting with outsiders.

"Impossible!" A manager coldly shouted: "You're only a Third-Level Researcher. Even a First-Level Researcher wouldn't know what we're doing here!"

"I... just know!" Nick clenched his fists, his eyes bloodshot, and shouted loudly.

"Speak slowly, I have plenty of time." Li Yu glanced outside. His Transformation Legion had already descended from Outer Space and began cleaning up this planet.

"It's... like this. My parents were both Researchers here. They had already reached First-Level Researcher." Nick calmed his emotions and said:

"They worked in this experimental Base for a long time and had some guesses, which they recorded in a notebook. During a study of the Thunder Battle Armor by chance, there was an accidental mistake, and they were killed."

"And I was adopted by the Base, but I was born with a special disease and am unwilling to interact with outsiders. My figure is hunched, which led to me being bullied and ostracized among my peers..."

Li Yu had a gentle expression, listening to this guy's narration. In reality, his Attention was somewhat distracted.

Then Nick blabbered on again, mainly recounting how much bullying he had suffered.

Later, after joining the experimental Base as a Researcher, he was even treated as a servant by his colleagues.

"So, I know everything!" Nick sternly shouted: "The Forerunners want to extract a substance called Source Matter from the Thunder Battle Armor here!"

"Source Matter?" Li Yu's expression shifted slightly. He was finally getting to the main topic.

This was his first time hearing this term.

And those three managers, upon hearing this term, their expressions instantly changed. This kid actually really knew.

Li Yu noticed the few people's expressions and confirmed that this kid Nick seemed to be telling the truth.

Nick continued: "Source Matter... is a special substance that exists within Titan Artifacts. It's exactly Source Matter that grants Titan Artifacts terrifying might."

"In other words, the raw material used to forge Titan Artifacts, and the core material at that..." Li Yu understood.

The Forerunners actually wanted to extract the core raw material from the Titan Artifact.

Undoubtedly, once the core raw material was extracted, the Titan Artifact's might would probably not even have one in a hundred left, or it might even be directly rendered useless.

At the very least, the already somewhat damaged Thunder Battle Armor definitely couldn't be preserved.

The Forerunners thought repairing it was too troublesome, so they wanted to extract the core raw material and then forge a new one?

Li Yu secretly estimated. Then, his expression suddenly changed, recalling the words Bloodlust had once told him.

The power of the Titan Civilization was dispersed, while the power of the Creator Civilization was concentrated.

The specific manifestation of this was that the number of the Titan Civilization's supreme technological crystals——the Titan Artifacts——was simply too many.

It completely didn't fit the concept of a civilization's ultimate Weapon.

The Creator Civilization's Annihilation Device was more like the ultimate Weapon of a powerful civilization.

What if the Titan Artifacts were combined into one?

Li Yu's expression flickered. Wanting to achieve this idea, under normal circumstances, was basically impossible. After all, Titan Artifacts were individual entities and couldn't be combined.

But if the raw forging materials were extracted and reforged, this idea might be realized.

Li Yu believed that without other information appearing, this guess was the closest to the Forerunners' objective.

"You... you, you actually dare...!" The few managers had malevolent expressions, staring fixedly at Nick.

They didn't expect that a measly Third-Level Researcher actually truly knew the Base's core secret.

The few senior Researchers secretly exchanged a glance. Actually, they also had guesses about this long ago, although they didn't know the organization's specific objective.

But through their daily work, they could also deduce that the organization probably wanted to extract something from the Thunder Battle Armor, just that they didn't know the name 'Source Matter'.

"Nick, thank you so much. If I had known this earlier, I wouldn't have wasted effort dialing back time." Li Yu couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"No, L-Lord, dialing back time was worth it, because hidden deep within the core of this planet is a Titan Ruins." Nick revealed another astonishing fact:

"If you don't block it, the self-destruct System will detonate the planetary core, thereby destroying the entire planet."

"Titan Ruins!?" Li Yu was truly surprised. He didn't expect such a secret to be hidden here.

Wait... his expression shifted slightly: "If it's purely to extract the Source Matter, the work should be able to be done anywhere. Could it be that the Titan Ruins here can assist in the extraction?"

"Yes." Nick nodded: "The Titan Ruins here used to be one of the forging platforms for Titan Artifacts. Although most of the equipment is damaged, a small portion of equipment can still be used."

"Some of the special power drawn in the Laboratory comes from the Underground forging platform."

Nick's expression turned gloomy: "It was exactly because they discovered this situation that my parents wanted to use a special method to activate the Thunder Battle Armor. If they could extract the Source Matter, they could apply to the organization to adjust my defective Genes..."

This was a sad story. The Forerunners was a massive organization. Under this giant tree, there were bound to be many shadows.

Nick was just an insignificant one within the shadows.

Li Yu feigned sorrow for a moment, finally figuring out the situation here.

"Thank you very much, you saved me a lot of time." Li Yu looked at Nick.

"I... I only have one request." A ruthless light flickered in Nick's eyes.

"Please speak." Li Yu said.

"I want to... kill everyone among these people who has ever hurt me!" Nick turned his head, his gloomy gaze sweeping over the Researchers gathered together.

Li Yu pondered for a moment. His main purpose in keeping this group of Researchers was to figure out the situation here.

Now that he had figured it out, the value of this group of Researchers wasn't too high anymore.

As for the Technology to extract Source Matter, this group of guys probably didn't know either. They just unknowingly borrowed the power of the forging platform.

"Of course you can, go ahead, but... if it's too cruel, please don't do it in front of me." Li Yu smiled.

A chorus of wails arose from the numerous Researchers behind him. They begged Nick for mercy in terror, completely forgetting how they had bullied this deformed child without backing back then.

………

At the same time, in the Forerunners Headquarters located somewhere unknown, a stalwart figure stared at the Holographic Screen in front of him, which flashed with four large words: "Communication Severed!"

The branch Base within the territory of the Bados Civilization had completely lost contact.

This made him realize that something unexpected probably happened there.

Otherwise, a mere Alfonso couldn't possibly block the communication signal.

"Fortunately..." He said in a low voice. Fortunately, there was the Sky-Encircling Defense Array. Once the Information State Transmission Channel was constructed, the most crucial Thunder Battle Armor would be sent back.

As long as this item wasn't damaged, even if the branch Base within the Bados Civilization was completely annihilated, they could bear it.

It was just that in this instant, a massive amount of unknown guesses surfaced in his mind, and then dissipated one by one.

The information he received was too little. Only the matter of Alfonso's betrayal. It was very difficult to deduce more things through this matter.

However, he had already locked onto two important suspects——

The Other-Dimensional Camp, and the Star Glory Empire.

These two factions abruptly came to the Bados Civilization to investigate their information.

Not long after, Alfonso defected. If one said there was no connection here, he fundamentally wouldn't believe it.

Abruptly, the Holographic Screen in front of him split. A terrified figure abruptly surfaced and hurriedly said: "L-Lord, just now the Sky-Encircling Defense Array of the Bados Civilization branch Base suddenly activated, and constructed an Information State Transmission Channel with Headquarters..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted, "I already know about this matter."

His flat tone also caused the emotions of the subordinate who came to report to calm down quite a bit, looking at his Boss with admiration.

As expected of the Leader, to be able to deal with such a major event calmly. Then, he continued to ask: "Then what should we do next? Do we need to send people to the Bados Civilization branch Base to check what specifically happened?"

"Perhaps the person who snatched the Thunder Battle Armor hasn't left in time yet."

Suddenly, fierce winds howled in the room. The stalwart figure in the Seat abruptly stood up and said sternly: "What did you say, snatched the Thunder Battle Armor!?"

"Y-yes!" The subordinate was slightly taken aback, unable to help but ask in confusion: "Didn't you already know? The Sky-Encircling Defense Array constructed the Information State Transmission Channel, but not long after, the Information State Transmission Channel collapsed."

"This means that the Sky-Encircling Defense Array has already been defeated. The Thunder Battle Armor has probably already been snatched away."

Boom!

The Holographic Screen abruptly extinguished. A massive amount of cracks instantly appeared on the walls of the room, and alarms sounded.

He stood rooted to the spot, the Energy Fluctuations on his body rising and falling erratically. His pupils emitted terrifying killing intent, and he let out a chilling voice as if it came from hell:

"Who on earth is it!?"

The numerous subordinates who rushed over upon hearing the alarm Look at Each Other in Dismay, looking at their Leader with some fear.

He said in a deep voice:

"Notify the Third Forerunner——Have him take people to Bados. I want to know everything!"

(End of Chapter)